Congressional over site of in orbit assets with commercial crew

May 17, 2015

Congressional oversight of on orbit assets with commercial crew

(A)(1) It should be encouraged that the congressional leadership in particular the committee leadership should pursue a bipartisanship policy of sending ranking and minority leadership members on commercial crew to visit on orbit assets

(A)(2) Such missions should not displace NASA funding of commercial crew so that the congress is providing some funding of such over site missions

(A)(3) The language above might mean adding new money over 5 to 10 years to the NASA budget that represents displaced commercial crew/cargo by adding some additional missions to the manifests.

(A)(4) Industry offering to fly a member of congress should be transparent and come under any ethics rules but should be encouraged as an act of education that might benefit spaceflight and that elected members district.

(A)(5) You would have to wonder if such a person could return to earth and vote to cut the earth observation science budget?Why do I say this? persons returning from orbit have reported over the last 50 years a profound understanding of our planets fragility as seen from orbit.After all Lunar orbiter and Apollo 8 images of the raising earth over the lunar horizon shape a generation of those of us who where alive then